ATM damaged in bid to loot money

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 24

Two persons damaged the Punjab National Bank ATM in an attempt to loot money at GT Road near Ganesha Basti on Saturday night around 2 am. The incident has been captured in CCTV cameras.

The Kotwali police have started a probe into the incident after taking the CCTV footage into custody.

Bank officials came to know about the incident on Sunday morning when people came to the ATM to withdraw cash.

Immediately, the Kotwali police were informed and they reached the spot.

The accused had covered their faces, due to which the police have failed to ascertain their identity.

Kotwali SHO Davinder Singh said police had taken the CCTV footage into their custody and started a probe into this incident.

The incident has once again raised a question on the security of the ATMs as despite many such incidents, many banks have not deployed security guards at ATMs in the city.

No security guard was present at this ATM too when the incident took place.

Even the district administration has issued instructions to the banks to deploy security guards at night or keep the ATMs closed if they can’t do it.

One can easily witness people flouting instructions given at the doors of the ATMs. As per the instructions, there should be one person in the cabin to do instant banking.

While at times, over five persons can be seen standing inside the cabin waiting for their turn.

Moreover, the access log facility has ended in the ATMs, in which a customer has to swap the card on the door. After the recognition of the card, the door lock gets opened automatically.

A senior official of a nationalised bank said, “The security is provided depending on the location of the machine. The site near the police station can be skipped from providing the guard while ATMs at vulnerable places or busy areas such as the railway stations and national highways are guarded.”